Recently in Theatre Category

I think that I have had variations of the actor's nightmare before. Odd, as I haven't done theater in 5 years, and I never did that much of it. I was in some form of musical comedy that was a period piece. (The real world antecedent might have been seeing the film version of The Producers musical a few weeks ago.) I was playing a stereotypically gay guy. At first, I only realized that I didn't know what my lines were. I think that we all had small colored books with the lines and notes in them. At one point, I had to sing some kind of number while dancing with another guy. I couldn't dance, sing and read at the same time, so I just sort of ended up making it up, figuring that that the lyrics would be so many verses of such a pattern of syllables. We could se the audience. It felt awkward being so unprepared.

It seemed like while I was frantically trying to read from the book with the lines that the text was changing, or I couldn't find what other people were reading from.

Then the writer/official writer came in during the middle of thing and presented us with some kind of award and sarcastically labeled us as being the worst performers ever. Everyone left, feeling embarrassed and shamed.

We were then eating in what seemed like a basement of the theatre that felt like as cafeteria/restaurant. Everyone was sitting at tables with a few friends from the cast.  Maybe because I cognized that text changing on you was indicative of being in a dream, I asked the entire room if anyone remembered having gone to a rehearsal or reading. A young girl mentioned about having seen the national production. I said "Yeah, but how about this one? This is a dream. I am dreaming all of this right now." I tried to say more, but my voice got all muddled, like I had peanut butter filling my mouth, and then they couldn't hear me. I wanted to prove to them that this was a dream, so I turned everyone into an ear of corn, which here all husked. I think I turned them back. Then I woke up and the alarm to wake up went off.

Weird. I don't recall my dreams very often, but I do occasionally get lucid ones.

I found this online and it brought back many fond memories of when this was first performed at a Society for Creative Anachronism  (SCA). I think it was the very late 80’s.) Alfredo and his lady did this for the 2nd princess of Aethelmearc.

Around 1990, the local Shire of Stormsport put on a demo at the South Erie Turners. I seem to recall that Cerise did Abbot and my friend Paula did the Costello lines. It went over okay. (Memo to self: comedy schtick with half the lines in Latin may not have as wide appeal as one might hope.) I seem to recall that Alexander Caithnes and Tristan demonstrated fighting, and then we did English Country Dance, which had some audience participation. Good times!

The sketch is pure geekiness, nerdy fun and incredibly clever.

I got this from someone on the Atlantian list that he and his wife wrote/performed and thought y'all (yes, Maryland is below the Mason-Dixon line, why do you ask?) might be amused. Btw, Meadhbh, if you use it, you might check and make sure with:

                        Alfredo il Buffon  (I think that's spelt write)
                        edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com



                              -Virgil



==============================================================================

"Ignoro" is Latin for "I don't know". The dialog went on something like this:

1. When I first heard her Excellency's name, "Hodierna," I thought, "Isn't that the Latin word for 'today'?" Of course, I was wrong. The Latin word for "today" is "hodie." "Hodierna" is the feminine form of "hodiernus," which means "today's," as in "today's paper." But her name piqued my curiosity, so I ransacked the library until I found what I think is the earliest mention of the name "Hodierna" in the Period.
2. Since it was written down in the form of a dialogue, we've decided to perform it.
3. Now the entire dialogue is in Latin --
4. -- but we've translated it into English.
5. -- so you'll just have to bear wi-- What do you mean, "we've translated it into English?"
6. What word didn't you understand? You found this dialogue of a man and a woman talking in Latin, and we decided that I would translate the Lady's part, and you -- You did remember to translate the abbot's lines didn't you?
7. Well, maybe "remember" is too strong a word.
8. Now what are we gonna do?
9. How about if you perform your part in English, and I'll perform my part in Latin. This is an intelligent crowd; they'll figure it out.
10. All right, but don't blame me if this doesn't work.
11. So, imagine, if you will, that I am an Italian abbot, walking down an equally Italian street, in a small principality in the north of Italy.
12. And imagine that I am a Norman noblewoman visiting from England.
13. And imagine that we are both speaking in Latin. We begin ...

      HEUS ABBAS M: Hey, Abbot!

1. Salve, o mea domina. Possumne esse auxilio tibi?
2. Yes, you can be of some assistance to me. Please tell me the names of the nobility in your principality so when I go see them in court I'll be able to know those fellows.
3. Ita, te docebo. Tamen, incredible auditu, ridiculissima nomina nobiles hodie habent.
4. You say the nobles have funny names nowadays?
5. Ita, ridicula nomina. In nostro principalitate, Quis est princeps, Quid est dux, Ignoro est vicecomes, --
6. Do you know the fellows' names?
7. Ita.
8. Well then, who is the prince?
9. Ita.
10. I mean, the name of the prince.
11. Quis.
12. The prince.
13. Quis est princeps.
14. Well, what are you asking me for?
15. Non te quaero, immo, te dico. QUIS EST PRINCEPS.
16. I'm asking you. Who's the prince?
17. Illud est viri nomen.
18. That's who's name?
19. Ita.
20. Well, go ahead and tell me his name.
21. Quis.
22. The prince.
23. Quis.
24. The principal man in the principality.
25. Quis est princeps.
26. Does this principality have a prince?
27. Certe.
28. And who is the prince?
29. Absolute.
30. Who wears the princely coronet?
31. Ita. Dignus eo vir est.
32. Who is entitled to it?
33. Ita.
34. Well, all I'm trying to find out is, what's the prince's name?
35. Oh, non, non. Quid est nomen ducis.
36. I'm not asking you who's the duke.
37. Quis est princeps.
38. That's what I'm trying to find out.
39. Ergo, noli nomina mutare.
40. I'm not changing their names!
41. Defervesce.
42. All right, I'll calm down. Now, what is the prince's name?
43. Quid est nomen ducis.
44. I'm not asking you who's the duke.
45. Quis est princeps.
46. I don't know.
47. Ille est vicecomes. De illo non dicimus.
48. I know we're not talking about the viscount.
49. Mentionem vicecomites fecisti.
50. If I just mentioned the viscount, who did I say was the viscount?
51. Non. Quis est princeps.
52. That's what I want to know: What is the prince's name?
53. Quid est nomen ducis.
54. I'm not asking you who's the duke.
55. Quis est princeps.
56. I don't know.
57. Ille est vicecomes.
58. There we go with the viscount again.
59. Non possum mutare nomina.
60. I don't want you to change their names, just tell me their names. Since we're on the subject of the viscount, how about telling me his name.
61. Ignoro.
62. I thought you knew the names of all of the noblemen.
63. Ita. Omnium nobilium.
64. But when I asked you the name of the viscount just now, you said, "I don't know."
65. Ita. Ignoro.
66. Is the viscount a nobleman?
67. Ita.
68. Do you know the names of all the noblemen?
69. Ita.
70. Then, what is the viscount's name?
71. Quid est nomen ducis.
72. I'm not asking you who's the duke!
73. Quis est princeps.
74. I don't know.

A&M: The viscount.

M: Does the viscount have a wife?

1. Ita.
2. She's the viscountess, right?
3. Correcte mundo.
4. Please tell me her name.
5. Cur.
6. Well, I just thought I'd ask.
7. Ergo, ego statuo te dicere.
8. Then go ahead and tell me, who is the viscountess.
9. Ausculta, mea domina. Quis non est vicecomitessa. Quis est --
10. I'll break your arm if you say, "Who's the prince?"
11. Mea domina!
12. Forgive me, your Eminence.
13. Tibi veniam do.
14. Thank you. Now, what's the viscountess's name?
15. Quid est ducis nomen.
16. I'm not asking you who's the duke!
17. Quis est princeps.
18. I don't know.

A&M: The viscount!

1. Defervesce, defervesce, mea domina.
2. All right, I'll calm down. I'm calm. Now tell me the viscountess's name.
3. Cur.
4. Because.
5. Est episcopus.
6. The bishop!
7. Noli vexari, mea domina.
8. All right, all right. Will there be any knights in court?
9. Certe.
10. Tell me the name of the first knight of the realm. The most experienced knight. The one with the strongest --
11. Cras.
12. Pardon me? Did you just say "tomorrow"?
13. Ita, Cras.
14. You don't want to tell me now?
15. Etiam nunc te dico.
16. Then go ahead.
17. Cras.
18. What time tomorrow are you gonna tell me?
19. Nune te dico.
20. Then what is the knight's name?
21. Quid est nomen ducis.
22. I'm not asking you who's the duke!
23. Quis est princeps.
24. I don't know.

A&M: The viscount.

M: Is there a princess?

1. Ita.
2. And her name?
3. Hodierna Principessa.
4. Today's princess! And tomorrow, knight!
5. Nunc vera dicis.
6. Now, I'm right, huh? You have a couple of days in your court, that's all.
7. Fieri non potest aliter.
8. Does this court have a herald?
9. Certe. Praeco habendus est.
10. All right. Don't try to tell me his name. I don't want to know. Now, I have pretty loud voice, right?
11. Oh, certe magnam vocam habes. Summam vocam. De tua magna voce non est disputandum.
12. A simple "yes" would suffice. Let's say I use my voice as herald at your principality's court.
13. Plerumque praeco est indigena.
14. Yes, I'm sure the herald usually is a native but let's just suppose, okay? I'm in a subjunctive mood now.
15. Ut libet.
16. Okay, so I'm the herald, and court is about to begin, so I say, "All rise for --" who?
17. Nune vera dicis.
18. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
19. Est usitata formula.
20. That's the standard formula around here? "All rise for who"?
21. Ita.
22. So I say that, and who comes in?
23. Certe.
24. And who sits on the throne?
25. Certe.
26. Certainly.
27. Certe.
28. Okay.
29. Nunc comprendis.
30. So Certainly comes in ...
31. Non, non. Princeps introit.
32. Then who sits on the throne?
33. Certe.
34. Okay. So Certainly comes in ...
35. Non. Quis introit.
36. Certainly.
37. Ita.
38. So, I announce the prince, and Certainly sits down on the throne, --
39. Non. Tu pronuntias principem, --
40. And who sits on the throne?
41. Certe.
42. That's what I'm saying.
43. Non sic dicis tu.
44. Certainly sits on the throne.
45. In solio sedet Quis.
46. Certainly.
47. Certe. Ergo, dic sic.
48. That's what I'm saying!
49. Defervesce, defervesce.
50. I announce the prince.
51. Et Quis in solio sedet.
52. He better sit there!
53. Defervesce.
54. So I announce the prince, and whoever he is comes in with today's princess. They want to see the chivalry, so I call for what and tomorrow and I don't know -- a triple play.
55. Fieri potest.
56. Then the prince asks me to summon the viscount and his wife. Why? I don't know. And I don't give a damn.
57. Visne illud iterare?
58. I said, "I don't give a damn!"
59. Oh, that's our king!

Ermine Spot (July 1996): [Ermine] Latin anyone?

Busy day! I was upgrading 2 customers to the same release of software at the same time. It was slightly confusing, but it went okay.

I also worked more on letting folks know about the Erie County Democratic Party email lists. We are slowly getting folks to sign up.

I was late getting out of work, and I really wanted to go to see Rocky Horror at Theatre 145. Fortunately, Deb called to ask if she could come over to work on photos from the candidate forum, so I didn't have to go home to let the dogs out.

Theatre 145 were basically showing the movie, with live performances for some of the musical numbers. I sat in front of Nick, who had the title role in Dracula when I was Van Helsing, 4 years ago. Apparently, he had never seen it before. Amusingly enough, he was dressed as a devil, with red horns, and 2 seats over was a guy dressed as Jesus with fake stigmata. Nick said something about checking with them if I had any moral dilemmas to get both sides.

The performance was pretty good, and I remembered most of the audience participation lines. There was a female playing Dr. Frank N Furter, the sweet transvestite. She was obviously having fun with the part. When the closing credits ran, many of the folks got up on stage to do the Time Warp. I decided to bound up and join in. Fun!

Afterwards, I came home and gave the dogs their evening watch, and then headed out to the bars to check on newsletter supply and give out Obama Pride stickers. When I was at Craze, I had a few very nice conversations, including one with the ever-delightful Sharon, who was dressed as a pirate.

Afterwards, I went to the Zone and chatted/passed out more of the Obama stickers. I was telling folks that my goal was to get them all out before the election. One guy asked if he could have 2, and they happened to be the last ones on the roll. I took that as a sign it was okay to go. I have a fairly well booked day on Saturday.

I had been thinking of going to the open circle that the Covenant of Brighidshaven was doing for Samhain. I got word from Paula that Kym, who is going through some very rough times indeed, is going to be joining us on Saturday. I then got the idea that since some of Kym's friends would be at the circle, I should go and get cards signed to bring on Saturday. So, Cindy very graciously got 3 cards, and I went around and let folks sign if they wanted. It reminded me of how I was going up to folks to get them to register to vote or to come to the candidate forum. This season seems to be about approaching folks to get them involved.

We had small wine glasses for holding beverages during the ritual. Someone dropped theirs, and I heard it shatter. "Mazel tov!" I shouted. "Oops, wrong group/event. Sorry."

I was talking later with James and his friend, Tim. I mentioned about Rocky Horror performances this weekend, and Tim mentioned that he had gone to see the movie when it was at the Strand (now the Erie Playhouse) back in 1982 at about this time of year. Hmm. I asked him if he recalled going about Halloween, and seeing folks in the front of the theatre acting it out. He said that he had and then I informed him that he probably had seen me in my underwear. ;)

Way back then, some folks I was hanging out with decided to play with audience participation stuff on Halloween night. I was ultra-nerdy Brad. (I know - contain your shock.) So, I was running around in my skivvies when the character was.

It has been a fairly quiet weekend, but I got a lot done. I had the films that I was supposed to review for the GLBT block at the Great Lakes Film Fest in late September. The reviews were due by Monday, and working with the newsletter I tend to be cognizant of deadlines. I was feeling guilty for not jumping on it, but late Saturday I just dove into it.

There were paper forms to record results, but being a computer geek, I scanned it in and made a PDF form to fill out (which also totaled up the scores for the various criteria.) I celebrated completing the task by going out to the Zone after dropping off the films at Theatre 145. There were a couple of fairly good films, and only a few that I didn't care for so much.

I had been having a problem for almost 2 weeks with cron jobs not executing for the Erie Gay News site. It was rather frustrating, and I was fairly sure that it wasn't anything that I was doing wrong. Among other things, this meant that the email list stuff wasn't regularly checking. However, the web host finally escalated the ticket and it is now resolved. Yay! A side benefit was that I added some code to track when the jobs run and fixed some things that had been not quite right before.

Just in the past couple days, we have gotten an influx of requests for free sample issues of Erie Gay News. There is a form on the web site. They were coming from all over, which I found puzzling. It turns out that we were listed on a site for free offers, so that explains that.

Tonight was the last of the free classes for belly dance for guys. We start up again the 2nd Monday in September. I hope to keep in practice.

After the class, I had to stop off to pick up the GLBT entries for the Great Lakes Film Fest, which is happening the end of September. I need to review them and send back critiques within the next week or so. Hoping to make time for that.

Um, no. Just a bad idea from the get go. Rocky Horror Picture Show is a cult classic, and should NOT be messed with. I can probably sing most of the score and many of the lines (plus some of the audience participation stuff) from memory. I am NOT shivering with antici-(SAY IT!)-pation. If I was wearing pearls, I would clutch them.

MTV Remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Source: Variety

July 23, 2008

MTV is developing a remake of 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, reports Variety.
Lou Adler, executive producer of the original film, is partnering with BermanBraun and Fox Television Studios on the new rendition.
The new version will use the original screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien but may also include music not featured in the original.
The director and casting decisions have yet to be announced. The original starred Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and Meatloaf.

MTV Remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show - ComingSoon.net

We had the first night of belly dance class for guys at North Coast Ballet. There were just 4 of us (and I was the only gay one), but it went well. All of us happened to be Pagan, and it ended up being very relaxed and supportive socially.

At one point, the instructor had us stretching our arms out with our palms out and parallel to the wall. She made a reference to the scene in Star Wars where they are in the trash compactor thing and everyone visibly brightened at the geek reference.

There were 2 other guys who weren't able to make it this time, but who will be there next time. Next Monday is being skipped for class because almost everyone will be at Brushwood for Sirius Rising.

The teacher said that we might be sore and she suggested taking ibuprofen when we got home. I am feeling fine now, so either it did the trick, or I didn't work hard enough.

It felt really good to try something new in an environment that was so friendly and supportive. Even though I tend to think of myself as a klutz and dumpy, I felt like I wasn't being evaluated and found deficit. How people treat each other makes a HUGE difference.

Now I just need to figure out how to practice and not reinforce mistakes. Oh yeah, and get appropriate practice wear. I just showed up from work since the timing was so tight.

I am not certain how well the story will adapt to an opera, but if there is anything more gay than an opera based on Brokeback Mountain, I can't think of what it would be.

I am picturing an aria "Desidero che potrei rinunciarlo" (Okay, so I just looked up the Italian for "I wish I could quit you" on BabelFish. So sue me!)

And there was already a musical parody done a while back entitled "Oklahomo!", so that joke has already been done.

Brokeback Mountain The Opera

From wenn.com | See recent WENN news
9 June 2008 9:02 AM, PDT
An opera based on Oscar-winning movie Brokeback Mountain is heading for the New York City stage.
Charles Wuorinen has been given the job of adapting Annie Proulx novel for the stage, in a show slated to premiere in 2013.
Ang Lee's movie adaptation scooped three Academy Awards in 2006, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as two gay ranch hands.

Brokeback Mountain The Opera

I had a very good time at Shimmy for a Cure. Quite a number of bellydancers put on a benefit performance for the John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation. They were mostly local/regional performers, but there was a troupe from Toronto (which included a male dancer) and a performer from California who was fantastic.

I knew a fair number of the local performers. Unsurprisingly, many of them were Pagan. Just as there aren't a whole lot of straight male church organists, the odds tend to favor that if a woman is a belly dancer, she is probably not a fundamentalist Christian. (Not to say that is a guarantee in either case, of course.) I remarked to a few friends that it was interesting attending a bellydance event where people from my faith tradition weren't the majority. However, it was all cool.

Kamille, the California, did a finale where she placed a belt on her waist with rods extending that were then set on fire at the end: very dramatic! My first thought was that it would be a really bad time to get an itchy knee. ;) She also held conjoined rods in her hands that looked like big fingers that had flames after she got out of the belt.

All in all, I think everyone had a great time, and money was raised for terrific cause, so I consider it an evening very well spent.